USG Ishimura
The USG Ishimura The USG Ishimura was named after astrophysicist Hideki Ishimura (inventor of the shockpoint drive), and was first of the massive planet cracker ships. Built 62 years before the beginning of the Dead Space narrative, she had a long and storied career. The Ishimura was the first vessel of her size to utilize the shockpoint drive for large-scale, commercial, and deep space expeditions. At the time of her inception, the Ishimura was hailed as the savior of Earth and the colonies. She was created to mine and smelt entire planets and moons. She was also the first ship capable of the "scan and catch technique" for harvesting mineral-rich asteroids using huge gravity tethers. The Ishimura can lock onto asteroids and pull them inside the ships massive collection bays for smelting. Even at 62 years old, the Ishimura was still in remarkable shape. Much of the equipment had been upgraded over the years with many sections refitted to take advantage of modern advances in technology. Despite the long years of service, she was the pride of the fleet and remained the largest planet cracker in the fleet. Whenever a deep space mining project came up and the Ishimura was available, she was the first to be called. Prior to 'Dead Space' The events leading to the Dead Space game are displayed in the Dead Space prequel comic series, the animated movie 'Dead Space:Downfall' and www.NoKnownSurvivors.com. The USG Ishimura is the setting of the game Dead Space. It is a "planet-cracker" class mining ship; the first and largest of it's kind. Prior to the events of the Dead Space game, the Ishimura is called to assist in transporting a strange 'marker', found on the surface of the Aegis VII colony, back to Earth. Upon arriving at Aegis VII, Captain Mathaius, the Ishimura's commanding officer and a devout Unitoligist, orders that the 'marker' and all prevalent data be removed to the ship. Once this has been accomplished, the crew of the Ishimura begin planet-crack operations; the cover put in place to hide any knowledge of the marker to those outside. Coinciding with the planet-crack, the Ishimura briefly loses all contact with the colony and, once contact has been re-established, the crew discover that the entire colony has been slaughtered. Further contact with one of the mining teams, who are themselves slaughtered during the brief communication, reveals nothing of the colonies fate. Ishimura sections Bridge The control room where Ishimura is navigated and monitored. Various workers monitor the Ishimura's status from the side monitoring stations while the Captain monitored the ship's orbital status from a room near the front of the ship. Hydroponics The Ishimura's internal farm which produces the food needed to feed the many workers aboard the ship as well as providing a sustainable production of oxygen. Hydroponics is typically maintained by horticulturalists such as Elizabeth Cross who monitored the production levels of the food. The section came under trouble when the Leviathan grew into food storage and began polluting the air. Engineering Deck The section of the Ishimura where various engineers worked. This area was responsible for ensuring the Ship's shockpoint drive worked, as well as the nav rockets and lifting capacity was at 525 trillion kilograms. This area was noted for being very dangerous as only Class 5 Engineers were allowed entry. Decontamination Chamber Not necessarily a section of the ship, Decontamination chambers can be found throughout the ship. Their purpose was to cleanse workers of any bacteria and small debris that could contaminate an important area. Medical - The Medical bay of the Ishimura containing various facilities including: Zero-G Treatment, an Intensive Care Unit, Morgue and also various research labs and offices of the scientists aboard the ship. Flight Deck - Location of the main hangers where shuttles would enter and leave the Ishimura. Contains a fully equipped departure/arrival lounge and has access to the cargo bay allowing materials to be loaded into shuttles for transport. The Ishimura's infection How the Necromorph infection reached the Ishimura is revealed in Dead Space: Downfall. A shuttle pilot and a crewmate were sent down from the Ishimura to investigate what has been happening to the colony (the pilot was also looking for his wife.) After landing, the pilot and crewmate split up (The movie suggests the crewmate was killed shortly after splitting up). The pilot found his wife, but she is in a demented state, and kills herself with a mining tool. Devastated and terrified, the pilot rushed back to the ship carrying his wife's corpse, and began to take off. However, right before the ship door closed, an Infector flew into the ship, which the pilot doesn't know. The pilot makes it up to the Ishimura while the infector infects his wife's corpse. The pilot is killed by his reanimated wife just as he crash-lands on the Ishimura, and is also infected. The newley-reanimated couple and the Infector escape before the security team arrives to investigate the crash, and begin to spread the infection throughout the Ishimura. The crew of the Ishimura continue to fight valiantly against the Necromorphs, but against an enemy so hopelessly overwhelming, they begin to realise they have no chance of winning. To prevent news of the Marker from reaching Earth, Dr. Kyne launches the Ishimura's entire complement of escape pods, leaving the remaining crew trapped onboard their own ship with no way out. As a last desperate resort, Dr. Kyne disengages the ships engines, causing the ship to begin a slow descent towards the planet. P.C.S.I. Sec. officer Alissa Vincent intercepts him and restabilizes the ship engines in a bid to rescue the remaining survivors, but fails and instead sacrifices herself to launch a distress signal into space, as well as to suck out numerous Necromorphs. It is at this point that the USG Kellion shockpoints in, in response to the Ishimura's distress signal, beginning the events of the Dead Space game. The Ishimura is a massive vessel, with travel in between sections requiring an automated tram system. Throughout the game, multiple areas are seen, such as the Bridge, medical bay, mining facility, engine room, hydroponics lab, and the crews' quarters. The Ishimura is also equipped with a battery of mass drivers; as a defense against asteroid impact. Many of the areas of the ship are covered in necromorph biomass or otherwise damaged; resulting in failures in the ship's life support, automated systems, or artificial gravity. The ship is left derelict at the end of "Dead Space", when Isaac heads for Aegis VII in the Executive Shuttle. It is unknown what becomes of it after the mining colony is devastated by the asteroid. Category:Spaceships Category:Content